RETURN OF THE DARKNESS
by Italian writer
Summary: The darkness is back, and it's after Sapphire and Steel. No Mr. Tully around to save the day, this time. As usual, forgive my English mistakes.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

The woman, tall and blonde, materialized inside an old building. She walked around, curious to explore her new assignment's grounds. The briefing was very, well, brief, and the information scant. She tried to do a spot analysis of the few objects that she found in the room she was in, but they were strangely silent.

"Well?" The man's voice was cold, as were his grey eyes.

"Nothing."

"What do you mean, nothing?"

She could tell that her answer annoyed him. She tried to probe deeper, but she still could not feel anything.

"These objects are not broadcasting."

"Are they real?"

"I think so. They look pretty real to me, but then again I cannot be sure without a spot analysis."

"Can't you try harder?"

"I already did, to no avail. These objects won't respond to my probe."

Now he sounded surprised. "That's never happened before."

She smiled. "I guess there's a first time for everything."

He frowned at her, and her smile disappeared.

"Is there something blocking your probe?"

"There has to be. But I have no idea what it might be."

"We'll find out. Let's walk around and see what else is in this building."

They walked from room to room. Each one of them contained furniture from a different historical period.

The man's voice sounded harried. "This place is full of triggers. Anyone of them could virtually be responsible for some time anomaly or another."

"Is there a time anomaly developing here?" The woman asked.

"Why would have they sent us, otherwise?"

"I don't know, but this assignment is quite unusual. What were you told, exactly?"

"Not much, but that's not unusual."

"No, it's not, but as a rule we arrive when time has already been tampered with, and the outcomes have already developed. Why aren't we feeling anything? Why hasn't the tampering become evident, yet?"

"Maybe it will. Soon."

She shook her head. "No. The authority cannot anticipate time anomalies, it can only sense them _after _they have been triggered."

The man's look became even more somber. "You mean we haven't been sent by the authority? That someone else summoned us here?"

"Someone or... something."

"Then where is it? Why bring us here and then not try to communicate?"

"Maybe it doesn't want to communicate."

"Whatever it wants, it still has to show up to accomplish its goal, whatever it is."

"Maybe it's here, we just don't see it."

The man was still dubious. "But in that case you would at least sense it. No, Sapphire, it doesn't make sense."

The woman insisted." Steel, I'm sure there's something terribly wrong with this assignment."

"Then you _are _feeling something."

"No, it's more like a gut feeling."

"A 'gut feeling'?"

Despite the danger she was feeling, she smiled at his questioning look.

"That's what my instinct is telling me."

"Ah. Well, I have developed a healthy respect for your instinct, so let's suppose we are not alone here. What entity could go totally undetected by us both?"

If she was touched by his implicit compliment, it didn't show.

She was walking in a corridor between two rooms, when all of a sudden she swayed and had to lean against the wall. The man was immediately at her side to support her.

"What's wrong, Sapphire?"

The woman was grateful for his support: if it weren't for his hold on her shoulders, she would have fallen. She covered her face with one trembling hand.

"I don't know. I lost my balance. I felt as if I were displaced."

The man cast her a quizzical look. "Displaced?"

"Yes, out of place. As if I weren't in this house anymore, but in another place. And in another time."

"Looks like we found our time anomaly." He almost sounded pleased.

But she shook her head. "No, Steel, there wasn't any anomaly. _I _was the source of the displacement."

Now he was confused. "You? Are you sure, Sapphire?"

She straightened: she was regaining her balance and didn't need his support anymore.

"Of course I'm sure. I can feel it very clearly. What I cannot feel, though, is the cause of this displacement. What forced me out of synch with the present?"

"Or who?" he added.

"Do you think there is some kind of entity operating in this place?"

"There has to be. And it has to be very powerful, too, for disrupting your time sync. Can you still feel it?"

She concentrated, but she shook her head after a few seconds. "No. Whatever it was, it's gone. At least for now." She added, as an afterthought.

He nodded.

"I agree. It will show up again."

"How do you propose to lure it back here?"

"I think that our mere presence is attracting it. Let's keep walking around. Be careful, Sapphire."

She always felt moved when he worried for her.

They resumed their search, wandering aimlessly around the house. Sapphire's senses were at their maximum intensity, ready to detect anything out of the ordinary. What she wasn't expecting, though, was seeing Steel freeze. She looked at him, but his eyes were unfocused. His hair was ruffled by a nonexistent breeze, and for a moment she thought he was wearing different clothes.

Then everything was back to normal again. Steel's eyes regained their focus, and he looked at her with a puzzled expression. Also his voice sounded baffled, when he asked: "What has just happened?"

Regrettably, she couldn't give him any explanations.

"I don't know. You stopped abruptly and were looking as if you were somewhere else. I also thought you were dressed differently, but that only lasted for a split second. What did you feel?"

"I'm still not sure. I was looking at something dark and looming, and it felt as if I had met it before."

"What was it? Some sort of creature?"

He still looked confused. "I don't know. But one thing I'm sure of: it scared me."

Now Sapphire was really worried: whatever had the power of scaring Steel, had to be considered as a major threat.

Steel looked upset. "I don't like the idea that it can hit us anytime and anyway it wants to, without us being able to react properly."

"What do you suggest?"

"We should find a way to anticipate its moves, or at least to realize when it's about to strike. It could just be assessing our capabilities, and I don't want it to. I need a probe, Sapphire."

"I told you: these objects are not talking to me."

"I don't mean the objects: I want you to probe the environment. The atmosphere, if you like."

She was doubtful. "I've never done it before."

He smiled smugly. "Didn't you just say that there's a first time for everything?"

She didn't bother to answer. She knew that, once that his mind was set, nothing could change it. She sat on a chair and started concentrating hard. Her eyes were glowing an unnatural shade of blue, and a deep vibration was resonating around her.

Unnoticed by the two agents, a dark shade slowly began to form on one corner of the floor, on the opposite side of the room they were in. It rapidly grew wider, and was accompanied by a chorus of ghostly voices whispering incomprehensibly.

Sapphire was too concentrated to notice, but Steel jerked his head sideways, feeling a change in the atmosphere. As soon as he realized what was going on, he tried to break his partner's concentration.

"Sapphire, wake up. It's the darkness. It's back, somehow, and now it's after us. Wake up!" He shook her, but she didn't respond. She sat motionless, eyes now closed. The dark shadow was getting wider and wider, and was slowly swallowing the whole room. When it was about to reach them, Steel lifted Sapphire unceremoniously from the chair, and dragged her outside the room. He closed the door, hoping beyond hope that it could slow it down. Strange enough, it didn't come out of the door, so Steel relaxed slightly. Maybe the darkness could only operate in certain rooms of the house. He eased Sapphire on a chair and tried to wake her up.

He shook her gently. "Sapphire! Snap out of it! The darkness is back."

"I know." Her voice was uncharacteristically cold, and when she opened her eyes, they were pitch black. Steel was abruptly reminded of the first time the darkness took possession of her. Startled, he took a few steps back.

It only took him a few seconds to regain his self-control. "What do you want?"

Seeing a wicked smile on Sapphire's usually serene face was chilling. "I need another source of resentment."

"What happened to the one we gave you a few years ago?"

"Mr. Tully? He died. He was an acceptable source of feeding, but now I need something else."

"We are not your food suppliers."

"If you don't help me feed, I will have to find other sources of resentment, and I will recur to my old methods again. Is that what you want? To have this place filled with dead men's ghosts?"

Steel was thinking furiously. First of all he had to free Sapphire. He needed her. And he couldn't bear seeing her at the mercy of the darkness. He knew very well what it could do to her.

"I need time. I haven't got the authority to take such a decision."

"You had no problems in sacrificing Tully four years ago. Why do you hesitate now?"

"Now I have no Mr. Tully to give you. I must find a suitable replacement first, and I cannot do it alone. Set Sapphire free."

"How can I be sure you are not trying to deceive me?"

"I guess you will have to believe my words."

"I don't trust you. You have tricked me before."

"What do you expect, a written guarantee?"

"No, I have more than that: Sapphire will be my guarantee."

Steel didn't like the sound of it.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you get it? If you try to trick me again, I will take her. I'm sure she can be a gratifying source of resentment."

"All right, no more tricks. But I do need time. Will you set her free, now? I need to discuss the matter with her."

"Very well," the darkness conceded. "Do what you need to do. You have until tomorrow morning, no more."

As soon as the entity left Sapphire's body, she collapsed like a rag doll. Steel caught her just in time before she fell and eased her to the ground.

"Sapphire? Are you all right?"

His uncharacteristically shaky voice shook her from her trance. She blinked a few times before her eyes were able to focus on Steel's worried face.

He lightly stroked her hair and his lips creased in a small relieved smile.

She grabbed his arm. "Steel, it was the darkness!"

"I know. Did you hear what it is expecting from us?"

"Yes. You are not planning to sacrifice another human, are you?"

"Even if I were, I have no one to offer. We will have to find another way."

"The only possible solution is to destroy it once and for all, or it will always be back asking for more."

"I know. But we were not able to destroy it before. What makes you think we will be successful this time around?"

"Now we are familiar with its nature, we know its weaknesses."

Steel was dubious. "We do? Name one."

She pensively chewed her lower lip. "Well, we know that it is parasitic: it needs a constant source of feeding. If it doesn't feed, it might grow weaker and its powers might lessen. It could become vulnerable."

"Suppose you're right. How do you propose to stall it long enough to starve it? It will take you long before it feels seriously hungry."

"In that case, we will let it believe we found another source of resentment."

Steel shook his head.

"No. If it finds out that we are trying to trick it again, it will take its revenge on you."

"Then we will just have to make sure it doesn't find out. All we need is a convincing 'victim'."

Steel though over Sapphire's proposal.

"It's risky, but it might work."

"Who do you think we could use?"

Steel flashed a mischievous smile at his partner. "What about an old acquaintance?"


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

Sapphire didn't like the look in Steel's eyes.

"Who are you thinking about?"

"Our mutual friend Silver."

Sapphire was dumbstruck. "Silver? You want to give Silver to the darkness? I know you are not especially fond of him, but I cannot allow you to do that, Steel."

"I must admit that the thought strongly appeals to me, but I don't want to give him to the darkness. I just want him to help us. He's especially talented at duplicating things. He might be able to also duplicate people."

She was starting to see her partner's plan. She joined him in his call out to their fellow operator.

A few minutes later, Silver appeared, dandy as usual. He smiled a Sapphire and kissed her hand.

"Sapphire. It's always a great pleasure to see you. You called?"

Steel interjected. "_I_ called. I need you to forge a person."

Silver laughed. "A person? In case you don't know, people cannot be forged, they are created."

Steel wasn't easily convinced. "Well, then, create a person for me."

Silver sighed. "Listen, Steel, I'm really flattered, but I'm no creator. I can only make copies of things, I cannot just craft a person out of the blue."

"I don't want you to. I just want you to create a copy of someone. Could very well be yourself."

"You have such a high opinion of me that you want two of me around? Are you sure?"

Steel pondered. "Mmm, you do have a point. Problem is, the entity we are fighting already knows us both, so we need a new face."

"And what should that copy of me do, precisely?"

"It should trick the entity into believing that it can feed on its resentment."

"But I have no resentments whatsoever!"

"If you don't stop complaining and don't start helping me, you will have plenty, trust me."

"Is that a threat?"

"No, just an encouragement."

Silver fell silent for a while, trying to concoct a system to do something he never accomplished before.

"All right. You two help me with your combined energies. Give me your hands and let's stand in front of that mirror."

The three agents took each other's hands and stood in front of an ancient, tall mirror. They all closed their eyes, except Silver, who concentrated hard while looking at his reflection.

Their mental effort was so intense, they were all perspiring. When Sapphire began to tremble with the effort, Silver disconnected her from the joining by releasing her hand. Only he and Steel continued to pour all their mental strength into the process.

Suddenly Steel collapsed on his knees, breaking the contact. When he opened his eyes, he saw two Silvers looking down at him with the same bemused expression.

"You are getting weaker with age, old boy."

Steel was too tired to retort, and just frowned at him. He slowly stood and went by Sapphire, who was sitting with an exhausted expression on her fine features. "Are you all right?"

She managed a weak smile. "Yes, I just need a minute to recover. I'm not used at broadcasting out my energy."

Silver, the receiving party of all that broadcasted energy, was beaming with pride. "Well, I must say I made an excellent reproduction job, wouldn't you say?"

His copy answered: "Absolutely. Down to the smallest, flawless detail."

Steel mumbled: "I'm not sure that was such a great idea, after all."

Silver complained: "Oh, come now, I really made something extraordinary. Thank you for giving me the chance to discover this new talent of mine."

"Anytime." Steel grumbled. "Now can we get back to the business at hand?"

"But of course. What do you want him, well me, to do?"

"When the darkness returns, it will try to feed on your supposed resentment, so first of all you should try to convince your copy that he resents something very deeply. The feeling must be real, otherwise the darkness will realize we are trying to trick it and will take Sapphire instead."

Silver's smile disappeared. "I see. I will not allow that to happen. Please leave us alone: I have some brainwashing to do."

The two agents left the room to let Silver do his job. They moved to a sort of small library. Sapphire started reading the titles of the neatly arranged books, while Steel sat pensively on an overstuffed armchair.

Sapphire asked: "What do you think he will use to induce resentment in his copy?"

"I have no idea. Is it really important?"

"Maybe not." She kept looking at the books, but Steel could tell that something was nagging at her.

"I thought you trusted Silver completely." He commented.

"Oh, I do. I just think we should know what he's using. Just to be prepared, you know."

"I don't think he will tell you. You know how cryptic he likes to be about his job."

Sapphire didn't answer, but she silently agreed with his partner.

After a few minutes, the library's door opened, and Silver entered the room.

"It's all set. Shall we meet this darkness of yours?"

Steel stood up and looked suspiciously at the technician. "Who are you? The copy or the original?"

Silver smiled smugly. "Can't you tell?"

Instead of replying, he asked Sapphire: "Well?"

"I need to touch him."

She approached Silver, who was still smiling, and touched his cheek.

"It's the copy."

The original Silver entered the room, laughing. "Well, you must admit he could deceive anyone, except our very talented Sapphire."

Steel had to admit to himself that he was impressed. "You did a good job. What is it that he resents?"

As expected, Silver did not reveal anything: "Sorry, old boy, that's private. Suffice it to say, it really makes him mad."

"Good. Now you'd better leave, or you will spoil our efforts."

"Very well. I leave the matter in his, well, my capable hands!" Still laughing, he teleported away.

As soon as the three agents were alone, Steel told Silver's copy to wait in the library, then moved to the other room with Sapphire, where he called out to the darkness.

"We're ready. Can you hear me? We found your source of resentment. Where are you?"

A few moments later, a shadow began spreading out on the floor, and stopped just short of touching Steel's feet. The agent didn't move, refusing to be intimidated by the entity.

The shadow stopped, and slowly moved towards Sapphire, who knew that it needed her body to be able to speak. Despite what all her instincts were yelling at her, she stilled and got ready to receive the entity inside her mind. It took all her courage.

She stiffened and shut her eyes closed, and when she reopened them they were completely black.

"Have you found what I need?"

Steel clenched his fists. He hated it when Sapphire was under the darkness' control.

"Yes. He's in the library, waiting."

"Who is he?"

"He's a fellow elemental, but he's incompetent. We've been looking for a way to get rid of him for quite a while, and this is a perfect occasion to finally prove his usefulness. His sacrifice will be remembered and his memory will be honored."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him all this, and also that you will give him special powers in exchange for his company."

Sapphire's voice laughed malevolently, and Steel shivered.

"Oh, powers I will give him, all right. The power to feed me, and the power to express all the resentment he's harboring. When is this one expected to die?"

"He's much younger than Mr. Tully. He will live for many years to come."

"Good."

Steel tried his bluff. "May we go, now?"

"Not yet." Sapphire's voice barked. "I want to make sure you're not trying to trick me again. You will stay until I'm satisfied with our bargain. You may stay in any room of this house, except the library. I will tell you when you're free to go."

As before, Sapphire's body sagged when the darkness left her body. This time Steel was prepared and caught her easily.

She opened her eyes. Much to Steel's relief, they were their usual deep blue. Her voice was spent, though. "I wish it found some other ways to communicate. I really hate to feel it inside my mind and controlling my body."

Steel braced her. "I know. You must hold on a little longer."

She just nodded, too tired to argue, but grateful for his support.

"I would love to see how Silver's copy is doing, but I think we should follow its instructions. Let's move to one of the bedrooms: you will be able to lie down and rest."

They slowly walked to a room upstairs, which hosted a large double bed. Sapphire immediately laid down, without even removing her shoes: she badly needed to sleep.

Steel sat on a chair beside the bed. He was terribly curious to know what was going on downstairs, but he didn't feel like leaving his partner alone.

But suddenly an agonized cry broke the silence. Sapphire was sound asleep and didn't hear anything, but Steel could not resist anymore: he quickly stood and left the room, running downstairs.

He tried to open the library's door, but he couldn't. He pushed with all his might, but it didn't yield. Another cry made him frantic. It was deeply upsetting to hear Silver's voice screaming out of pain or terror, even though he knew it wasn't really him. He tried to teleport inside the room, but that didn't work, either. He decided to smash the door open with his shoulder. At the second attempt, the wood splintered and the door gave. He abruptly entered the room, pushed by his own momentum.

The library was dark, and his eyes took a few moments to adjust. As soon as he started to see something, he noticed Silver crouched on the floor in a corner of the room. The darkness was nowhere to be seen. He ran at his friend's side, but Silver whimpered and crawled away from him. He was terrified. In a panicky voice, he shouted: "Get away from me!"

Steel tried to calm him down, speaking in a reassuring voice. "Silver, it's me. It's Steel. I won't hurt you."

"No! I know who you are. That's why I don't want you near me. Stay away from me!"

Steel was dumbfounded. "You are afraid of me?"

"Yes. You are the source of all my troubles. You are the cause of all my pains."

"What are you talking about?"

"You gave me to the darkness."

"I know. That's what you're here for."

"Well, not anymore. I refuse the doom you are imposing upon me."

Steel wasn't expecting such turn of events. He didn't dare explain Silver's copy that he was just a fake, created expressly for the darkness: in his suspicious nature, he feared the entity was lurking somewhere, unseen, listening to their conversation.

While he was thinking, Silver's copy got even more agitated. "I want to leave this place, and you won't try to stop me."

Steel swiftly moved in front of the door. "Sorry, I cannot allow you to do that. I need you here, with the darkness."

The copy was now shouting. "I don't care what you need. I want out of here, and that's final."

Steel didn't answer, but he didn't move, either, virtually blocking the way out of the library.

Silver's copy was now frenzied, and threw himself against Steel. He tried to push him out of the way with his own weight, but the stronger elemental didn't yield. He then tried to reach his neck with his hands, in an obvious attempt at strangling him, but Steel just lifted his arms and easily pushed his hands away. Silver's copy was so furious that he wasn't thinking anymore. He ran back to the desk in the opposite corner of the room, grabbed a paperknife he knew was there, and tried to stab Steel in the stomach. The elemental didn't move, and just hardened his core: under his assailant's astonished gaze, the blade shattered without even scratching Steel's skin. The real Silver wouldn't have made such a mistake. Clearly, the copy didn't have all the knowledge of his original.

The enraged copy threw himself again at Steel, grabbing him by his collar. "Let me out of here! You have no right to force me to spend all my life with the darkness! I want to spend it with Sapphire."

Now Steel was positively astonished. "Sapphire? What are you talking about?"

"You stole her from me. I was assigned to work with her first, but then you decided you wanted her for yourself, and of course the authority met your request. I'm just a simple technician, after all, and you are an esteemed operator." He spat the last words with contempt.

"She is an operator, too. She needed a specialist training. Her talents would not have developed with a technician. I did what was best for her."

"NO!" He shouted. "You did what was best for YOU! You're the most selfish elemental I've ever known. You only care about yourself and your assignments. You don't even treat her right."

Steel's eyes reduced to cold slits. "What do you mean?"

"You perfectly know what I mean. You treat her callously, you ruthlessly exploit her powers, and you never show her any appreciation. You don't even thank her for what she does for you."

"She doesn't need to be thanked for doing her job. She perfectly knows how much I appreciate her."

"How could she know, if you never bother to tell her? Face it, Steel: you're the most insensitive, self-centered, unsympathetic element of our community. And everybody else agrees with me."

"You don't know what you're saying."

Now Silver's copy was smiling wickedly. "Oh, I know it all right. But what I and every other elemental don't understand is why such a talented, beautiful and efficient person as Sapphire still tolerates your company. Out of pity, no doubt: you would accomplish nothing without her."

That was too much for Steel: he gave Silver's copy a powerful shove backwards, which brutally sent him to the other side of the room and almost made him fall. He barely kept his balance, and steadied himself to oppose the now enraged elemental, who was approaching him with a very threatening expression on his somber face.

When they were less than a foot apart, Sapphire's voice stopped them both.

"That's enough! Don't you see it, Steel? You're playing the darkness' game: you're giving it exactly what it wants: hatred and resentment. You're feeding it."

Steel stopped short, and quickly regained his composure. "No, Sapphire. I'm showing the darkness that the source of resentment we're giving it is worth its price. I'm just giving it a taste of what it is expecting to receive."

Sapphire spoke in his mind: You mean you were doing it deliberately? You weren't angry at Silver's copy?

Steel smiled sheepishly. Not entirely. What he was saying really angered me, but I thought I could make good use of such anger.

We will discuss it more thoroughly when all this will be over. What do you plan to do, now?

I plan to wait for the darkness to sample its new source of feeding, hoping it will not realize that the resentment he's supposedly giving out is not real, since the source itself is fake. Non-nutritional food, if you like.

Then he spoke out loud: "Come, Sapphire, let's leave him alone with his new companion." And shot a scornful look at Silver.

As soon as they stepped out of the library, the door looked whole again, and accurately locked.


	3. Chapter 3

Once the library's door was locked again, the two agents knew that the darkness was now busy with its new source of feeding, and felt free to speak out loud. For good measure, though, they moved to the upstairs bedroom again.

Sapphire sat on the bed, and asked her partner: "Now, tell me what was all that about."

Steel sat beside her. "You were wondering what Silver used to make his copy develop a feeling of resentment. Well, now I know. It's you."

Sapphire was surprised. "Me? How?"

"Well, it seems that, back when you started to work in the field, our friend Silver wanted to be your partner, but I outranked him."

"I remember: after my training, he asked the authority to work with me, but I was assigned to you instead. I've always wondered why."

"Because I thought that your talents were best developed with my experience, and that you would one day become an excellent operator. A technician wouldn't have helped you get there."

"Is that the reason why you dislike each other so much?"

"I don't dislike Silver. As I told you once before, he can be a useful kind of person. But I must admit that his interest in you sometimes gets to my nerves."

Sapphire looked intensely at her partner, and asked, in a quiet voice: "Why?"

Steel returned her gaze with one of his penetrating looks, which never failed to stir something inside her. "I think you know why."

"Perhaps, but I would like to hear it from you."

His eyes never wavering, he took her hand and let his fingers intertwine with hers. "Because what I feel for you goes beyond the simple involvement of a working partner. It's also something deeper than friendship, or trust."

Sapphire's heart was racing, when she asked: "How would you call it, then?"

"Is the name really important?"

Steel's grey eyes turned a deep shade of blue, as they always did when he was emotionally involved in what he was saying, and they attracted Sapphire like a magnet. Their two heads moved closer of their own volition, until their mouths were touching. When their lips met, the two partners felt something like an electric current flowing through them, attracting them even more, and forcing them to deepen their kiss. Steel started to push Sapphire down toward the bed, stroking her silky hair, now totally lost in the feelings that she was stirring in him, but couldn't complete his move: a voice from the door made them both jump.

Silver's clone was inside the bedroom, and was looking at them with a wild look in his eyes. "I knew it! Not only you gave me to that monster out there, but now you also have the guts to try and seduce my partner."

Steel stood and faced the maddened elemental, purposely moving between Sapphire and what he knew had turned into a real threat.

"She's not your partner, she's mine. And what we do is none of your business."

"On the contrary, it is my business. It just won't be yours anymore." With a wild smile, Silver extracted something from the pocket of his jacket and aimed it at Steel. Neither he nor Sapphire clearly saw what it was, until they heard the detonation. Steel tried to move forward, but stumbled against a chair. He stopped, surprised: he never moved so clumsily. He tried to advance again, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain to his side. He instinctively touched it with his hand, and when he withdrew it, it was covered with blood. Suddenly his knees buckled and his legs refused to support his weight. He leaned against the wall and slowly slumped to the floor, knocking over the chair.

Sapphire ran at his side, a frightened expression on her fine features. She addressed Silver in a quivering voice. "You don't know what you've done."

He answered, in a self-assured voice: "I know very well what I've done, my dear: I've shown that egotistic bastard that I know his weaknesses very well. For instance, I remembered that an old-fashioned lead bullet can get through his steel shell, especially if he doesn't have the time to harden his core. I've done my homework, you see."

Sapphire wasn't listening to the delirious elemental anymore, and was desperately trying to remember how to treat a bullet wound. With shaky hands, she opened Steel's shirt and exposed the injury. It was a bloody mess. She tore a piece of sheet from the bed, and put it over the profusely bleeding bullet hole, applying pressure. Steel moaned. She said: "I'm sorry, I know it's painful, but it is imperative that I stop the bleeding."

Despite the pain and the unconsciousness irresistibly reclaiming him, he said, in a voice so feeble that Sapphire barely made out the words: "Go away. He's totally lost his mind, he could hurt you, too. Go, Sapphire. Please." He took her hand with a trembling one of his own, and weakly pushed her away.

But the woman shook her head, refusing to leave her partner alone with the maddened elemental. "No. I'm sorry, Steel, I won't comply this time. How could I leave you now?"

Steel heard her words, but could not answer: despite his will, he was quickly blacking out. He sent out his last conscious thought to Silver, the real Silver: [Do you really hate me so much?]


	4. Chapter 4

Sapphire was calling him, he heard her voice from the neighboring room. He got up and tried to reach her, but Silver suddenly appeared on the threshold, blocking the way out. He was holding a shiny oblong object on the palm of his hand. When Steel looked more closely, he could see that it was a bullet. Silver said: "Sorry, old boy, that's private."

Steel, confused, heard himself asking: "What is?"

"My relationship with Sapphire."

"You have no relationship whatsoever with her."

"I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you, Steel, but you see, Sapphire doesn't want to have anything to do with you anymore. She is leaving with me. You stay here and keep the darkness company."

As soon as Silver made a step backwards, the door swung closed and locked. Steel tried frantically to open it, but he couldn't. He tried to call out to Sapphire, but all the answer he got was her laughter resonating inside his head.

"Sapphire! You can't leave me alone. I need you!"

A cool hand brushed away a lock of damp hair and gently rested on his forehead, and her voice, now close by and soothing, was speaking softly. "I know. I'm not leaving you, Steel. My place is at your side. It always will be." The hand was replaced by something softer and warmer, that Steel recognized as Sapphire's lips, which deposited a feathery kiss on his forehead.

He slowly opened his eyes. The light was offending, but Sapphire's beautiful face was a welcome sight.

He was laying on the same bed where Sapphire had rested before. How long before, he didn't know. He felt spent, as if all his energy had been drained from him. The super-fast healing process of his elemental body was taking its toll. When he tried to lift his back from the bed, he felt a stabbing ache between his ribs, which immediately reminded him of what happened. He slowly lay down again, hissing with pain.

"You should not try to get up. You could reopen the wound. I did a wonderful stitching up job, and I would hate to see you spoil it."

That was Silver's voice. The real Silver?

He looked in the direction of that voice, and saw that the elemental was smiling a reassuring smile, without any trace of the previous madness.

"Before you ask, I'm the original, and my clone is downstairs. Look, Steel, I'm really sorry for what he has done to you. I didn't realize that the resentment I injected into him was so strong. I would never have expected him to try and kill you."

Steel felt too weak to talk, so he just spoke mentally: [We have some talking to do, but later].

He looked back at Sapphire, who took his hand and said: "You're still too tired. Get some rest."

He complied gratefully. As soon as he closed his eyes, he easily surrendered to sleep.

OoO

When he opened his eyes again, Sapphire was sitting on a chair beside the bed, but her eyes were pitch black again. Steel was confused. Was it another dream? But then Sapphire said: "Thank you, Steel. Your little dispute with Silver was very gratifying. I will be fed for quite some time. I'm here to tell you that I'm satisfied with our bargain. You can leave, now."

Steel decided this was for real, and tried to procrastinate. "I cannot. In case you haven't noticed, the dispute that you found so gratifying almost killed me, and I'm in no conditions to move. I need time to heal."

"Very well. I'm in no hurry. On the contrary, I have all the time in the world. Who knows, you might even decide to stay and keep fighting with Silver until the end of time. I would love that, you know?" Its laughter resonating in his ears, he watched as the entity left Sapphire's body. He could not help her when she collapsed to the floor.

"Sapphire? Are you all right? Sapphire!"

Silver appeared out of the blue, and hurried at Sapphire's side, helping her back on the chair. "Sorry I'm late, my dear, but I couldn't let the darkness realize that there are two Silvers wandering about in this house."

Sapphire was still too tired to answer, so Silver turned to Steel. "Looks like your little trick is working: the darkness believes that my copy's resentment is really feeding it. Talk about the power of autosuggestion!"

But Steel wasn't easily sidetracked. He needed to straighten something out with him.

"Tell me what went wrong, Silver."

The technician sat on Steel's bed, looking embarrassed.

"Well, you wanted my clone to feel resentment and hatred, didn't you? So I convinced him that you were taking Sapphire from him."

"Why Sapphire?"

"Because she's my soft spot. You see, I really wanted her to be my partner, but when she was assigned to you, I realized that it was best for her. I mean, you are a very experienced operator, and her potential was outstanding. She needed you to become the fine operator that she is now. But I felt very disappointed when the authority took that decision. I must confess that I even detested you for a little while. But I swear that's all in the past."

"Not for the other Silver."

The technician looked mortified. "No. Honestly, Steel, I didn't mean to inject so much hatred in him. I heard your mental call before you lost consciousness, you know. I don't hate you, Steel, believe me. I do think that you're a little too callous with Sapphire, and sometimes I don't approve of your methods, but I don't hate you, and I most certainly wouldn't want to kill you."

Steel felt relieved: despite what Sapphire thought, he told her the truth: he didn't dislike Silver, whom he considered as a very experienced technician, although sometimes he was a real pain in the back.

"Well, I'm glad we've straighten that up, but now the problem of my clone is still to be resolved." Silver said. "He's momentarily resting in the library, waiting for Sapphire. He's convinced you will soon die and she will reach him and leave this house with him."

Steel pondered. "We cannot destroy him, I still need him to feed the darkness, but I'm in no conditions to oppose him now, should he decide to come and see what is going on. What do you suggest?"

Silver thought that Steel had to be really out of shape to ask for his opinion, but then he realized that his question was for Sapphire. Some things never change, he mused.

Sapphire looked at him and smiled, as if she read his mind. Then she answered Steel. "I think I should go downstairs and just play along. I will tell him that you are dead, but that I cannot leave this house while it's still haunted by the darkness."

Steel objected: "I don't want you to be alone with that maniac."

"But I won't be alone: Silver will be close by, and you will soon heal. There's no other way."

Silver interjected: "For what it's worth, I agree with Sapphire. My clone is so eager to stay with her, he will believe anything she tells him. In the meantime, Sapphire will fuel his hatred by constantly praising Steel."

Steel looked intensely at his partner. "It's a very dangerous plan, Sapphire."

She smiled at him. "I know. Your plans usually are, so you can't complain if I learned from you."

Steel realized that she was not going to change her mind, so he just took her hand and slowly, deliberately kissed her palm. "Be careful."

He then looked at Silver, who could not interpret the expression on his somber face.

Sapphire went downstairs and entered the library. Silver's copy was sitting on the armchair, playing with his gun. When he saw her, he put the weapon down on the reading table and stood, smiling. "About time, my dear. Is Steel dead, at last?"

Sapphire feigned despair. She managed a quivering voice and even a few tears. It wasn't difficult if she thought how close Steel went to really dying. "Yes, he's dead. I miss him already."

Silver's smile faded. "Oh, come now, you were just used to have him around. Now I am your new partner and I can guarantee that I will treat you right. Shall we go now?"

"We cannot leave this place while the darkness is still around. We must either wait for it to go or find a way to defeat it."

"Well, I was supposed to be Steel's winning weapon, so now that I'm in control of the situation, I guess we cannot defeat it anymore. Do you think it will just leave?"

Silver's clone was definitely thinking irrationally. He also conveniently forgot that the darkness threatened to take her instead. So she gave him leeway: "Possibly. We should hang around for a while and see if it gets tired of waiting."

Silver's clone agreed: "That sounds like a very sensible plan. Shall we have a cup of tea while we wait?"

Sapphire almost laughed at the surrealistic situation: now he was playing the March Hare!

They moved to the kitchen which, strange enough, was supplied with pots and pans and a brand new fridge, filled with many different kinds of food. Of course, Sapphire thought, the darkness wanted Silver to be well fed, in order to live as long as possible.

While Silver was moving around in the kitchen, looking for cups, teaspoons and tea bags, she sat at the table and decided it was time she carried on with her plan.

As soon as the tea was ready and they began sipping it, she made a musing expression, sighed and said, in a gloomy face: "Steel used to make tea when I was tired. He was always so thoughtful. And he did fix a perfect tea."

Silver's face darkened. "Even though he made a good tea, I seriously doubt he was thoughtful. Face it, Sapphire, he wasn't kind with you. All he could do was to exploit you to accomplish his own goals. He was insensitive."

"You're wrong. Oh, he sure had his bad moments, but he was always nice with me. And he cared about me." Sapphire decided to up the stakes. "And he was so handsome. He had the most beautiful eyes. And his hair? Oh, how I loved to stroke that blond, silky hair."

Silver slammed his tea cup on the table, almost breaking it, and spilling most of its content.

"I wish you'd stop talking about him in such praising terms, Sapphire. After all, I'm your partner, now, and you should forget him."

"Forget him? Oh, Silver, don't you see? I cannot forget him. I loved him."

Without realizing it, Silver had raised his voice. "Loved him? How could you love such a selfish and self-centered person?"

Sapphire noticed that a corner of the kitchen was getting darker, as if an invisible hand was spraying black paint over the objects. The darkness was enjoying Silver's rancor.

She tried to push Silver more toward the edge.

"I disagree with your assessment. He wasn't selfish. On the contrary, he always worried about me, and sometimes even about the humans. Do you remember that time we were trapped by the transient beings? He wanted to save that woman, before we found out she was on their side."

"He was probably just trying to impress you. Don't let your mind be blinded by your hormones, Sapphire, it's not like you."

"It's not a question of hormones, it's a question of feelings."

"Enough!" Silver slammed his fist on the table, startling Sapphire. "You are beginning to disappoint me, Sapphire. I thought you were much more sensible than that. I'm really fed up with all this talking about Steel." He stood and left the kitchen.

Sapphire followed him. "Where are you going?"

"Where I can be alone and not forced to listen to all this junk. Please leave me alone, Sapphire, I need to think." He went into the library and closed the door. Sapphire heard the lock being engaged.

She knew she had a few minutes, so she decided to check on Steel. She quickly climbed the stairs to the bedroom, opened the door and silently approached him. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing slowly and regularly. He was sleeping. Good, that meant that he was healing: Steel didn't sleep for any other reasons. She was about to leave the room, when she heard his voice softly calling her name. She turned, but he was still asleep. She smiled: his subconscious probably sensed her presence. That thought strongly moved her. Their link was deeper that she thought. She lightly caressed his cheek and murmured his name, then she left.

When she went downstairs, she went straight to the library and knocked. She got no answer, so she tried the door. Unexpectedly, it was unlocked, so she got into the room. Silver was sitting in the corner armchair, and his eyes were closed. She called him softly: "Silver? Are you all right?"

He opened his eyes, and looked at her with a haggard expression. He spoke hesitantly. "I just had the weirdest dream. I was talking to a mirror, but it wasn't reflecting my image. It was all black. Like looking straight into the void. And the mirror answered me, and told me it was hungry, that I wasn't feeding it enough."

Sapphire shivered, but she forced herself to smile and said: "It was just a dream. Nothing to worry about. I didn't know you used to sleep."

"What do you mean? Of course I sleep, why shouldn't I?"

"Oh, I was just wondering, because Steel never slept, so I thought that perhaps you were like him."

"I wish you didn't not compare me to your former partner. We are quite different, and for that I'm very thankful."

"You're quite right: you're very different, but I'm not sure that's for the best."

Silver looked at her suspiciously. "I beg your pardon?"

Sapphire sat on a chair at looked disdainfully at the technician. She wanted to push him over the edge.

"My dear Silver, I'm afraid you are not an adequate replacement for Steel. You are much weaker, less experienced, less dedicated, and not even remotely as brave as he was. You even sleep and let yourself be scared by a dream. No, Silver, you must accept the fact that you are not of his same standing."

Silver's face reddened, more out of anger than shame, and he raised his voice again.

"So you think I'm not at his level, eh? And what about you, my dear? I'm sure you believe that I'm not at your level either, right? I misjudged you, Sapphire. I thought you were better than Steel, but you're just like him: insufferably self-centered and arrogant. Now I understand why you two went along so well: you're as bad as he was."

Sapphire noticed that once again the darkness was witnessing to Silver's tirade, hiding in a corner of the room. She was distracted by the darkness' presence, so she didn't immediately realize that Silver had got up and was approaching her threateningly. As soon as she looked back at him, she noticed that he had the same delirious look he had when he shot Steel. He was unarmed now, but she knew that he could still hurt her physically. She quickly stood and ran to the door, although she half-expected it to be locked. Strange enough, it wasn't, so she got out and ran to one of the other rooms. Silver followed suit, a murderous look in his eyes. "I might not be at your same level, but you're still scared of me, aren't you? And you have a very good reason to be. You see, Sapphire, I'm feeling this funny drive to hurt you, make you suffer, even kill you. Yes, I wouldn't mind killing you, my dear, but not too painlessly. I know your powers aren't working, so you can't really do much about it, can you?"

"She can't, but I can."

The voice, coming from behind them, startled Silver and made Sapphire sigh with relief.

Steel, coming out from a darkened corner of the room, slowly approached Silver, his grey eyes colder than ever. The technician gaped at him, flabbergasted, not missing the huge red stain on his shirt. "It can't be! You're dead. I shot you."

"Yes, you shot me, but don't you remember that the darkness loves to call back the dead who have a score to settle? Just like me: I want revenge. You killed me and now you are trying to kill my partner. You don't deserve to live."

Silver shouted: "NO! I'm the only one here who does! You? You are but two self-conscious, detestable… wait, what's going on?"

Silver noticed that a dark shadow was rapidly spreading in the room, swallowing every object. He had never actually seen the darkness' physical appearance before, and it scared the living daylights out of him. He ran to the door, but it was locked, and no amount of blows would open it. So he swiftly moved behind Sapphire, and used her as a shield, grabbing her shoulders. The darkness was rapidly moving toward them, and Sapphire stiffened.

Steel said: "Don't let it take you again, Sapphire. Fight it. You can do it."

She concentrated hard, and felt the darkness trying to get her mind's control. She did as Steel said, and fought it will all her might. Her eyes were showing the inner battle she was going through: first they got completely black, then turned blue again.

While she was struggling against the entity, Steel got hold of Silver, abruptly breaking his hold on Sapphire. The elemental was too scared to react quickly, and Steel unceremoniously pushed him against the black pool that had now swallowed most of the room. Silver screamed and disappeared in the black void. Sapphire immediately felt the darkness leaving her mind, with what sounded like a hungry shriek. Her eyes blue again, she sagged against Steel, who grabbed her and dragged her to the door, hoping that the entity – in its famished fury - wasn't controlling the lock anymore.

Steel took a moment to realize that they were outside the room. He hastily closed the door, not bearing to see all that head-spinning void. He leaned Sapphire against the wall to check her conditions. Her eyes were now closed, and she was unresponsive. She looked suspiciously like the first time they met the darkness, when her subconscious separated from her physical body and there were two Sapphires around. If that was the case, Steel had no choice: he had to come back into the room to search for her subconscious, and possibly follow Silver's fate.

It was one of the hardest things he had to do in his long career of time agent: willingly let himself be swallowed by the darkness. He sat Sapphire on a chair, lightly stroked her cheek, then he squared his shoulders and opened the door again, stepping into the void.


	5. Chapter 5

The room wasn't there anymore, completely engulfed by the blackness. He took a step forward and immediately felt himself plunging into a bottomless void. While he was falling, he heard ghostly voices whispering inarticulately. He felt the entity's hunger deep inside himself, as if he were the one starving to death. Steel had never felt hunger in his whole life, so this painful urge deeply unsettled him. He forced himself to concentrate and to convince his body that he wasn't really falling. He pictured a floor in his mind, and after a while his feet were touching it, and he was standing on solid ground again.

He looked around: shapes were starting to form, but they were all indistinguishable. All except one: Sapphire. She was sitting on a chair in front of a table, and Steel recognized the furniture of the abandoned railway station where they fought the darkness for the first time. The same empty chair was waiting for him. He sat, and Sapphire smiled at him.

"You've abandoned me again, Steel. Abandoned me with the darkness."

"No, Sapphire. You are not really here. Your body is outside this room, and it's safe."

"But my subconscious isn't. And what use is a body without a subconscious?"

"Why is your subconscious here? We had no séance, you didn't fall into a trance."

"How would I know? I just know that the darkness tore it away from my physical body, and now it's using it to communicate with you. Just like before. But this time it won't let me come back. It will keep me here forever."

"Why?"

"Because you've tried to trick it again. It knew you were untrustworthy, so it did exactly what it said it would do: take me instead of the source of resentment you promised it."

"We gave it one. What happened to him?"

Sapphire's beautiful face twisted with rage. "He was not a suitable source of feeding, and you know it! It doesn't know why, but the resentment he's giving out is not substantial. You deceived the darkness again, and now it's taking its revenge on me. Are you proud of what you've done, Steel? You lost me to the darkness."

Steel made a small wicked smile. He stood, leaning his hands on the table, and said: "I don't think so. Sorry, but your deception isn't fooling me. I know you're not Sapphire's subconscious, you're just an after-image, created by the darkness. You see, the real Sapphire perfectly knows why Silver's resentment isn't feeding it. You probably _are_ the darkness, and you're trying to play your last ace. I know that you're starved, and you have no more energies to spare. You cannot hurt Sapphire, who is out of your reach, and cannot even hurt me, although I'm right here. You are powerless."

"Sapphire is not waiting for you. She has already left with Silver. She doesn't really care about your fate, you know?"

"Spare me this pathetic attempt at raising resentment in me. It won't work. Don't you understand? Sapphire and I could never resent or hate each other: the only feelings we share would never feed you. You don't thrive on involvement, trust, respect… and love."

He concentrated hard on his feelings for his partner, trying to repel the darkness.

Sapphire's mouth opened wide into a soundless cry, and her face started to morph. First it turned into Silver's face, then into Tully's. And then it turned into a dozen different, unknown faces. Steel knew he was watching the appearances of all the sources of resentment the darkness fed on during its entire life. He knew the entity was dying, but he didn't know how to avoid being dragged along with it and go back where he belonged. He was about to follow the darkness into its last voyage to wherever it was that these entities went when they died.

He felt himself being dragged away, but not physically. It felt like someone, or something, was trying to wrench his very soul from his body. He opposed the pull with all his willpower, but he knew it wasn't enough: he was slowly slipping away, consciousness fading, and he instinctively sent out a mental cry to Sapphire.

Unexpectedly, he heard her voice answering his desperate call. "Steel! I hear you. Where are you?"

The sound of her voice in his mind gave him the strength to fight the overwhelming power that was taking him away. "Sapphire! The darkness is dying, and it's taking me with it. I cannot oppose it."

Her voice grew anxious. "Of course you can. You always ask me to push myself beyond my limits, now it's your turn to practice what you preach. Follow my voice, Steel, and come back to me."

Despite her words, Steel was feeling his strength fading. "I'm so tired, Sapphire. I can't do it."

Now Sapphire's voice boomed in his mind: "YOU MUST! If you surrender now, I will lose you forever. Don't you care about me?"

Steel's mental voice sounded dishearteningly weak. "You know I do. More than anything else."

"Then prove it."

He didn't answer, and after a few moments of silence another familiar voice resounded in his mind. "Don't worry, Steel, I will take good care of Sapphire. You're leaving her in good hands."

Silver. The thought of Silver taking care of Sapphire triggered something inside him. He suddenly realized that he would never see her again, never touch her again, never share thoughts with her again. Never kiss her again. Silver would enjoy all that.

He would not allow that to happen. Sapphire was HIS partner, as she was meant to be.

He clung to her mental link and followed it as a thread. Slowly, painfully, he felt himself climbing up a steep mountain of pain, despair and anguish. He couldn't tell what the source was: himself, the darkness, or its countless victims. He stumbled and fell many times, but he always picked himself up and resumed his struggle. He needed to show Sapphire that she was worth every effort.

His fingers were bleeding from clinging to the razor-sharp edges of that steep barrier, but he felt that he was nearing the peak. Sapphire kept broadcasting encouragement and support, and he took the energy he needed from that.

Suddenly he realized he was not climbing anymore. He was sliding down a smooth, grassy slope, and eventually he landed softly on even ground. He let his body relax and rest on that comfortable embrace, and felt the previous weakness fading away, slowly replaced by his usual strength.

The grassy ground supporting him was turning into something different, and he realized that his limp body was being held by welcome and familiar arms.

He forced his eyes open, and as soon as they adjusted to the offending light, he could distinguish Sapphire's face, looking worriedly at him.

He weakly smiled at her, and her concerned expression melted into relief.

"Welcome back. I thought I'd lost you."

He slowly raised his hand, and let it linger on her cheek. "Never."

She could not resist and bent down to kiss him softly on his lips.

They heard a discreet cough coming from behind them.

Silver's voice said: "Excuse my interrupting you, but we should really leave this place now. Also, I'm sure you'd rather celebrate you reunion somewhere more private."

Steel reluctantly stood up and looked suspiciously at the technician. "Silver. You gave me a very motivating reason to come back. You know, sometimes you're cleverer than you look."

Unperturbed, Silver replied: "Better than looking cleverer than you are."

Sapphire smiled and said: "No need to test his self-control. He's the real Silver, I already checked."

Satisfied, Steel smiled almost – but not quite – shyly, and said: "Thank you for bringing me back. Both of you."

Silver feigned a horrified look and commented: "Oh no, now we have another clone to handle. The real Steel would never have thanked us!"

Sapphire chuckled and Steel, of course, just scowled at his friend.

As soon as the three agents teleported away, the house gradually disappeared from the real world, replaced by a weedy ground. In the middle of that ground, a tiny black spot lingered, refusing to fade from existence.

THE END (?)


End file.
